Forgotten razor wires turn into public enemy
Hyderabad, Nov 7 (INN): The city police may assume that since the razor-wires used to control mobs is its property, it will not be stolen. Perhaps it is this assumption which has led to the police department leaving bundles of these razor-wires at all the intersections where it was used in March-April this year, during the time when communal riots struck the old city. What the police department has conveniently forgotten is that these bundles of razor-wires pose a potential and severe danger to unsuspecting commuters. This danger is amply proved by an incident which occurred at the busy Charminar to Gulzar Houz road late on Saturday evening.
According to eyewitnesses, a motorcyclist veered to his left to avoid an oncoming vehicle on the narrow stretch. In doing so, the motorcyclist hit the bundle which was placed on the huge archway forming the Charkaman, with the rear of his motorcycle. The bundle fell on the road. Meanwhile, a scooterist with a lady riding pillion passed close enough to the bundle of razor-wire. The wire slashed the ladys legs, to the extent that she was pulled from her perch on the scooter. She fell from the moving scooter on the road.
That was not the end of the matter. Vehicles behind the scooter were caught unawares and they rammed into the scooter. In a cascading effect, before people could realise what was happening, at least five two-wheeler drivers had either slipped and fell or at least dashed into each other.
Passersby managed to set the bundle of razor-wires upright and against the wall where it was placed before being dislodged. The lady, still bleeding from the gashes by the razor wire, was rushed to hospital. The incident took place barely a stones throw away from the Charminar police station.
The incident, though not fatal, is a grim pointer to the dangers the bundles of wires present to the general public. These bundles of wires are placed at almost all the intersections throughout the old city. With virtually no one bothering to lodge complaints, the police department, known to take things easy, has conveniently forgotten that the wires were initially brought into service to protect public property and maintain law and order. These wire bundles are now having the opposite effect. They no long serve as barriers to rampaging mobs, but have turned into a danger themselves.
News Posted: 7 November, 2010
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